


i love you like it's the old days

by zenithal



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Polyamory, Rarepair, benbike, idk what you want from me i just love them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:40:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27582172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenithal/pseuds/zenithal
Summary: "He'd seen the knick knacks at Ben's before they moved in together. They were scattered on desks and shelves and counters, little collections and colonies of items taking up surfaces all around the house."Ben loses a couple of his collectibles and gets upset, but Mike and Bill are there to help.
Relationships: Bill Denbrough/Mike Hanlon/Ben Hanscom
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	i love you like it's the old days

"Bill?" Ben calls across the room. Bill looks up to see Ben frowning into an empty box, glancing between it and the shelf before him. The shelf is full of small porcelain and plastic creatures, all aligned neatly, aside from a few unsightly gaps. Ben frowns at the gaps, his fingers folding the leftover newspaper from the box absently between them. 

"Yeah?" Bill responds.

"Have you seen a, uh- a blue frog? About-" Ben holds his fingers apart about three inches- "this big? It should go with this stuff, with the other animals. It should've gotten packed into the same box, they were all on the same shelf at my place."

"I'm not sure," Bill says. "Could it be in another box? Maybe it just didn't fit in that one."

Bill finishes lining the movies up on their shelf beside the television (by genre, because Mike insisted that color was not a reasonable way to organize movies) and walks over to Ben. 

Ben shakes his head. "No, it would've fit. There's other stuff missing, too, a- a keychain and a bird, it should all be right here. I don't know where else they could be."

Bill can tell Ben is starting to become flustered, anxious. He's lifting up the newspaper in the box and looking underneath it as if his things will suddenly appear there if he looks enough times, eyes looking frantically along the shelf to see if maybe he just missed them. 

"I don't know, honey," Bill says. He smooths a hand down Ben's arm. "Maybe Mikey put them in the donation boxes."

Ben stops his frantic search through the newspaper and stays silent for a long while, his gaze stuck on the box. "Oh," he murmurs. "Right. The… donation boxes."

"Ben-" 

"I need to use the bathroom." Ben turns abruptly and makes his way to the bathroom, closing the door quickly. From where he stands, Bill can hear him slide down the door to sit on the floor. 

Bill pinches the bridge of his nose, his own eyes starting to water. He sits on the brand-new couch, staring down at his hands and feeling his stomach turn with guilt. 

He'd seen the knick knacks at Ben's before they moved in together. They were scattered on desks and shelves and counters, little collections and colonies of items taking up surfaces all around the house, sometimes acting out little scenes (like when Bill and Mike came in once and found a literally army man war taking place on the kitchen table) but sometimes also just filling space in Ben's otherwise hollow home. He's not sure he understands why Ben couldn't just get a pet to fill the space instead, but he knows that his Things are important to him, and he feels incredibly sick at the thought of making Ben upset, especially like this.

"Bill? Are you okay?" Mike's voice comes from the doorway to the living room. Bill looks up at him, shaking his head. 

"Ben's-" Bill starts, looking towards the bathroom though he can't see the door from his seat on the couch. He speaks quietly so Ben won't hear him. "He's missing some of his little figurines. Did you put them in the donation box?"

Mike's eyes widen. "I… I could have? I don't know."

"He's really upset, Mikey," Bill murmurs. 

The sink runs in the bathroom for a second before turning off again. They both hear the choked sob in the utter silence of the rest of the house and Mike turns away, running a hand down his face. 

"The boxes are still in my car," he says. "I'll bring them in." 

There are no more noises from Ben or the bathroom in general, but Bill is on edge and eventually goes to the bathroom door, knocking quietly.

"Ben?" There's silence on the other side of the door for a few stretching moments.

"Yeah?" Ben's voice shakes, quiet and fragile. 

"Can I come in?" 

"Please don't," the soft murmur comes out barely audible, but Bill hears. He wants to cry.

"Ben, sweetheart, I- I'm sure Mikey didn't mean it, alright? It was an accident," Bill says, trying to make Ben feel better one way or another. He doesn't want Ben to think that Mike didn't care about his Things or that he was trying to be malicious.

"I know," Ben says wetly. "I know. I just- will you please just-"

Bill hears Mike set a box down in the living room and begin digging through it. He doesn't leave the bathroom door, mumbling soft apologies and pleas into it, wanting so badly for Ben to open the door so he can touch him, try to comfort him in some way that isn't words. He's starting to stutter, flustered and ashamed.

"Honey, I just w-w-want to talk to you, okay? Just want to s-see you." Bill cringes inwardly at his own voice, his stutter. He means it, though, even as he's met with silence - he doesn't know what the hell to say, but if he could see Ben, touch him, he knows how to comfort him that way. He doesn't know how to do this.

He feels Mike behind him, pressing a hand to the small of his back as he knocks on the door. 

"Ben?" Mike calls softly. "Can you open the door? Please?"

For a while, there's just more silence. Then, the door clicks softly as it's unlocked, opening slowly, the creak of it echoing down the hallway. On the other side is Ben, red-eyed and staring at the floor, hands twisted together and trembling.

"'M sorry," Ben murmurs. His voice is weak, ashamed. "I know it's- it's stupid. They're just toys, it shouldn't even matter, they just- I've just had them for so long and they're, I don't know, they're important to me? But I- I should- I should be able to let them go. I shouldn't have gotten so upset, I-"

"Ben," Mike interrupts. He moves forward, just slightly into Ben's space, and takes his hands, turning them upwards. In them, he places a blue frog, a keychain of a penguin, and a small, red cardinal. "You don't have to apologize to us. Never."

Ben stares at his hands for a few moments before finally looking up at Mike, then at Bill, his mouth opening and closing as he tries to find something to say. His eyes flood with tears as he places the things on the counter beside the door and wraps Mike in a hug. He reaches for Bill, too, pulling him in until he's wrapping his arms around both men. Bill, finally, can card his fingers into Ben's hair and kiss the man's temple like he'd been wanting to since Ben closed himself in the bathroom.

Ben would never admit it, but a few hours later, when he walks into the lounge to see Mike and Bill putting even more figurines (these ones of people) onto a shelf, he gets a little misty-eyed, watching silently from the doorframe as the two people he loves most handle some of his most prized possessions with such care. He really does love them, so much.

**Author's Note:**

> hi hello!!! i hope you liked my little rarepair drabble 🥺 the title is from angelina by pinegrove btw!!!


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